History of the Jordan Family of Surry County, Virginia -- Part 1

Prepared by Joseph Luther

Works in Progress, February 1990

SAMUEL JORDAN

The history of the Jordan family must begin with Captain Samuel Jordan
of Dorsetshire, England. Samuel Jordan was a member of the
Virginia Company and in June of 1609 set sail from Plymouth Harbor,
bound for Virginia. There were nine ships in this fleet,
containing some 500 settlers known as the "Third Supply."

The fleet was "caught in the tail of a hurricane" and became part of
Shakespeare's immortal tale, TEMPEST. Of the original nine ships,
one was sunk, and the flagship, called the Seaventure, was wrecked off
the coast of Bermuda. For three days and nights the crew bailed
frantically to keep the ship from foundering. In the end, the
Seaventure was wedged between two rocks on the coast of Bermuda.
Most of the cargo and all hands were salvaged.

The flagship carried Sir Thomas Gates, Governor of the colony; Sir
George Somers, commander of the London Company's naval operations; and
Vice-Admiral Christopher Newport, commanding the ship. Among the
passengers on the flagship Seaventure was Samuel Jordan.

Also on the Seaventure was Silvester Jourdain. Perhaps the first
authentic news of the disaster to reach England was Jourdain's pamphlet
on the discovery of the "Barmudas" published in London in the late
autumn of 1610. Silvester Jourdain (Jourdan) was the son of
William Jourdain of Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire. He stayed in
Virginia but a few weeks.

The remaining seven ships reached Virginia one by one in August of
1609. The first year for these 300 settlers in Virginia was a
dreadful experience. This was known as "the starving time" when
the infant colony was reduced from 500 to "a haggard remnant of 60 all
told, men, women and children scarecely able to totter about the ruined
village."

At the height of the despair, in May of 1610, the leaders finally
arrived from the Bermudas in the pinnace Deliverance which had been
constructed by the shipwrecked crew. Given the grim situation, a
decision was made to abandon the colony in the early summer of 1610.

Just as the settlers were making ready to leave the Virginia colony,
Lord Delaware's three ships arrived bringing new hope and courage, and
Samuel Jordan.

Samuel Jordan is called "the ancient planter" due to his early arrival
in Virginia in 1610. He established himself near Charles City on
the plantation which is known as Jourdan's Journey. His age at
this time was in excess of thirty years.

Samuel Jordan does not appear in the literature again until 1619, when
he was a representative to the first legislative assembly ever to be
convened in America. At that session in Jamestown, Samuel Jordan
and Samuel Sharpe, both survivors of the Sea Venture, sat side by side
as the two representatives of Charles City.

In 1620, married Cecily Reynolds Bailey. This is a young woman of
some international reputation and speculation. Much has been
written about her various marriages and affairs.

Arriving in the summer of 1610 aboard the Swan, Cicely Reynolds was
only ten years of age. Soon after she married William
Baily. Samuel Jordan's later land grant would be in an area
called Bailey's Point. This was owned by William Baley, the first
husband of Cicely Reynolds. They had one child, Temperance Baley,
born in 1617, who was named for Temperance Flowerdew, the future wife
of General Yardley.

Apparently, William Baley died soon after the marriage, for in 1620,
Cicely Reynolds Baley married Samuel Jordan. Cicely Reynolds
Baley's mother was Samuel Jordan's first cousin in Dorsetshire.
The Jordan ancestor in England, Thomas Jordan of Dorsetshire, had at
least two children: Thomas, Jr. and Cicilie. Cicilie,
married in 1580 to "Robert Fitzpen als Fippen of Wamouth in Com.
Dorset." Their youngest daughter, Cicilie Fitzpen, was born in
1593 and married a man named Reynolds. Their daughter was Cicely
Reynolds. Thomas Jordan Jr.'s son, Samuel Jordan, married in
Dorsetshire and had three children by this first marriage, including
Thomas Jordan who was born in 1600.

The year 1620 is notable here for it is the year in which the Mayflower
landed at New Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Jordan line had been
in America for ten years prior to the Mayflower.

Samuel Jordan and his wife Cicely are described in their grant, "Samuel
Jordan of Charles Citty in Virga., Gent., an ancient planter who hath
abode ten years Compleat in this Colony" and "Cecily his wife an
ancient planter also of nine years continuance". In the
land-grant for 450 acres, "Given at James City 10 December 1620,"
signed by George Yardley, "Knight, Governor and Capt. Genl. of
Virginia, etc."

The land-grant is described as being "in severall places: one
house and 50 acs. called Bailies Point in Charles hundred, bordering E.
upon the gr. river, W. upon the main land, S. upon John Rolfe and N.
upon land of Capt. John Wardeffe; 2ndly, 1 tenement containing 123
aces. etc encompassed on the W. by Martins Hope, now in tenure of Capt.
John Martin, Master of the Ordinance; & 388 acs. in or near upon
Sandys his hundred, towards land of Temperance Baley, W. upon Capt.
Woodlief etc."

Apparently, Samuel Jordan's patent ranks next in date to "the earliest
extant patent" which was granted by Governor Sir George Yardley to
ancient planter William Fairfax, Yeoman of Charles City.

The adjoining land of John Rolfe is of special interest. It was
John Rolfe who married Pocahontas, the Indian princess, in 1614.
They were neighbors of Samuel Jordan.

The adjoining lands of Temperance Baley was a tract of 200 acres in the
"Territory of Greate Weynoke", where "William Baily" and "Samuell
Jordan" had tracts of land also. Apparently Temperance Baley's
share had been allotted to her as "the sole heir of her father" under
the law of 1618. In essence, Samuel Jordan also controlled these
lands, as Temperance was not more than three years of age at the time.

It should be noted that Temperance Baley later became the first wife of
Richard Cocke and mother of his two oldest sons, Richard of Bremo and
Thomas of Malvern Hills. They were married about 1637. Richard
Cocke was County Commandant of Henrico, a member of the House of
Burgesses, from Weyanoake in 1632 and from Henrico in 1654. His son,
Thomas Cocke, married Mary Brashare, sister of Margaret, who became the
wife of Thomas Jordan, son of Samuel Jordan.

In 1622, there were Indian raids in the area. Samuel Jordan
brought his neighbors into his home "Beggars Bush" at Jourdan's Journey
and from this fortified position held off the Indians until relieved.

Samuel Jordan died in 1623, leaving two children by his marriage to
Cicely: Mary Jordan and Margery Jordan. He also left his
step-daughter, Temperance Baley, as well as his three children by his
first marriage in Dorsetshire.

Immediately after the death of Samuel, Jordan, rich, landed, gay and
fascinating Cicely was courted intensely by Parson Greville Pooley and
Councillor William Farrar. Cicely discarded Parson Pooley with
little ceremony and Farrar moved into Beggers Bush. Word of the
scandal, aided by an outraged Pooley, spread through colonial
America. Pooley sued and the issue became too much to be handled
by the government of Virginia and was remanded to England for
disposition. Farrar married Cicely Reynolds Baley Jordan.

Cicely became, in fact, the ancestor of the lines of Jordans and
Farrars, as well as the children of Richard Cocke, which includes
another line of Jordans. She did all this by the age of 24.

THOMAS JORDAN1600 -

Thomas Jordan, born in 1600, the son of Samuel by his first marriage in
Dorsetshire, came to Virginia in 1618 in the ship Diana. He was a
soldier in the service of General Yardley.

In the Census of 1624, he is shown as living in "the Maine" on his
father's land patent, at Pasbyhayes. His land grant of 1624 was
for land that the Virginia Company had given his father, Samuel, but
the father had never taken out the patent on the tract. Thomas
Jordan was a Member of the Houses of Burgesses from Warrosquoyacke
(Isle of Wight County) in 1629, 1631, and 1632. He was
Commissioner in 1627.

In 1635 he was granted 900 acres known as the "Great Indian Field Neck"
near the head of Warroquoiacke River, beginning at the western side of
an old Indian town. This was near the head of Pagan River.
He was granted this land by Governor West for transporting 18
persons. One branch of the Jordan family still possessed this
grant until 1840.

Thomas Jordan married Lucy Corker, daughter of Captain Corker, and had
at least three children: Thomas, Jr., Richard and Phillis.

Thomas Jordan followed the Puritan trek to Nansemond as he patented
land there soon after receiving his Isle of Wight grant. Thomas
Jordan died in 1688 in Surrey County. His will includes, "a pair
of very old Virginals and a bass viol."

The son of Thomas and Lucy (Corker) Jordan, Thomas Jordan, Jr. who was
born in 1634. He married Margaret Brashare (Brasseur) in
1660. She was the daughter of Robert Brashare and the sister of
Mary Brashare who married Thomas Cocke, Cicely Reynolds Baley Jordan
Farrar's grandson.

Margaret Brashare was one of the first known converts to Quakerism in
the Virginia colony. She was born in 1642. She became a
Quakeress when she was sixteen in the year 1658. Soon after her
marriage in 1660, her husband, Thomas, also converted to the
faith: "in ye yeare 1660 hee received ye truth and Abode faithful
in it."

Hinshaw's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN QUAKER GENEALOGY notes, "Thomas
Jordan was probably the most influential Quaker in lower Virginia being
a man of position and substance."

In 1661, he was held, as he writes, "in six weeks imprisonment for
being taken at a meeting at my own house and released by the King's
proclamation." The latter royal intervention speaks of the
influence of the Jordan family in both Virginia and in England.

In the same year, Thomas Jordan also "suffered" the following abuses
for his Quaker beliefs: ". . . for being taken at a meeting
at Robert Lawrence's and bound over to the court of Nansemond for
refusing to swear according to their wills and against the commands of
Christ, was sent up to Jamestown a prisoner for upwards of ten
months. Presently John Blake took away my three servants and left
my wife in a distressed condition with a young child at her breast . .
. which servant was kept nine weeks and released by order of the
Governor. There was taken by John Blake, sheriff of
Nansemond, two feather beds, two feather bolsters, and furniture which
together with other goods amounted to 3,907 lbs. tobacco and also a
serving man who had three years to serve. There was taken by
Thomas Godwin, sheriff, ten head of cattle amounting to 5,507
lbs." This testimonial was signed, "Thomas Jordan, Chuckatuck,
1st month, 1661."

In 1666, Thomas Jordan [II] was deeded 550 acres in Nansemond
County. The Norfleet family owned land adjacent to them.
Thomas and Margaret Jordan had ten sons, as follows:

Thomas Jordan "departed this life the eighth day of the tenth month of
the sixth day of the week about the second hour of the afternoon and
was buried the 12th day of the said month on the third day of the week
of the year 1699." As his memorial notes, in part, " . . . he
stood in opposition against the wrong and deceitful spirits, having
suffered the spoiling of his goods and the imprisonment of his body for
. . ."

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